| News That Matters Good Wednesday Morning, Singer Jose Filiciano was born today in 1945.
One victory of note is that comedian Al Franken has won the Democratic party primary in Wisconsin for the US Senate seat currently held by Norm Coleman. Yeah, "Me, Al Franken." Have you ever tried to call a company but you cannot find their number on their websites? Their "Contact" page brings you to an email form that simply doesn't cover what you need and the site map is useless? There may be help. A website, appropriately called, "Hard to Find 800 Numbers" may be just the place you need. If you're late with a credit card payment, even if you had a perfect record in the past, Bank of America can now raise your interest rate to 29.99% plus applicable late fees and charges. And why shouldn't they? Congress let BoA write the laws! A hearty congratulations go out to BoA's lobbyists and the government that does what they're told. If you're concerned about food safety then there's a new website out there for you. Barfblog, maintained by Kansas State University, records and enumerates events and ideas and some of the mistakes made that affect human health in the food industry. It's a lot of fun, actually. Under the heading, "Wacky and Strange But True", Barfblog offers us this little tidbit:
Nine young Americans were charged with terrorism last week while organizing demonstrations at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.
And now, the News
'Punked' taxpayers in Putnam ValleyNearly 68 years old and not being up on current cultural happenings, I had only a vague concept of the underlying meaning of the term "you've been punked." However, when I received my Putnam Valley schools' tax bill, Google provided this definition: "To get 'punked' is to be intentionally fooled in some way, usually the butt of a practical joke perpetrated by a friend or colleague. In a harsher and more extended context, getting punked can be slang for getting ripped off, dumped, passed over for a promotion, or otherwise receiving the short end of a stick."Comparing my school tax bill to last year's bill resulted in the following: my Star benefit decreased by 8.5 percent; my assessment decreased by 4 percent; the tax rate increased by 8.5 percent; and, finally, my tax bill increased by 8.7 percent. Reviewing Volume 6, No. 3, of the district's "Spotlight," titled "Budget Vote 2008," under the large bold caption "Projected Tax Rate Increase*," I found that of Putnam Valley to be 2.54 percent; of course not in bold and in very small print relating to the asterisks was the disclaimer -"Pending release of final tax roll and equalization rate information." I suggest taxpayers follow my example by comparing your tax bill to last year's and take a look at the referenced "Spotlight" (it's a masterpiece of slick advertising). Finally, if you voted for the budget thinking your taxes were only going up by 2.54 percent, or didn't bother to vote like the majority of those eligible, possibly thinking the same, congratulations - you've been punked. Tom Cafferty Putnam Valley Read the original N.Y. Plans to Consider Law Limiting Natural Gas Drillingby Allison Battey, ProPublica - September 9, 2008 10:35 am EDT Miles of Aisles for Milk? Not HereBy ANDREW MARTINHARMAR TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Like cars and homes, grocery stores are beginning to shrink. After years of building bigger stores — many larger than a football field and carrying 60,000 items — retailers are experimenting with radically smaller grocery stores that emphasize prepared meals, fresh produce and grab-and-go drinks. The idea is to lure time-starved shoppers who want to pick up a few items or a fast meal without wandering long grocery aisles or paying restaurant prices. Safeway has opened a smaller-format store in Southern California, and Jewel-Osco is building one in Chicago. Wal-Mart plans to open four “Marketside” stores in the Phoenix area this fall, and Whole Foods Market is considering opening smaller stores. And here in the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh, the grocery chain Giant Eagle opened a Giant Eagle Express last year that is about one-sixth the size of its regular stores. It has gas pumps, wireless Internet and flat-screen televisions in a small cafe, a drive-through pharmacy and an expansive delicatessen that offers sushi, rotisserie chickens and ready-to-heat dinners. Read More 2 Million Jobs in 2 Years, if Congress Opts for Green StimulusDollar for Dollar, Investing in Green Yields More Jobs than Either Oil Subsidies or Tax Rebates: ReportCongress can spend less money than it did on the last economic stimulus package, create more jobs and help stave off catastrophe via climate change. That's the gist of an authoritative new report from U-Mass Amherst and the Center for American Progress. Green Recovery outlines how to spend $100 billion over two years to create nearly 2 million new jobs. Invest the same money in the oil industry, and you get just 542,00 jobs (and a commitment to more fossil fuel pollution). Invest the same money in tax rebates and you get 1.7 million jobs (and a whole lot more consumption). "Why does this program create more jobs? One, this program is more labor-intensive. For every dollar spent, we spend more on jobs and less on machines, less on supplies," said Robert Pollin, director of the U-Mass Political Economy Research Institute. Second, he said, more of the money is spent domestically. And, recall that the last economic stimulus package cost 68% more -- $168 billion. And by all accounts, that stimulus has now exhausted itself, as people paid off debts or bought gas or did whatever they did with the rebate checks that arrived earlier this year. Read More 40% of Freshwater Fish ImperiledFederal Scientists: Rate of Decline Is "Staggering"In a report that would seem more likely coming from an environmental group than the Bush Administration, the U.S. Geological Survey has reported a "staggering" 92% increase in just 20 years in the number of North American freshwater fish considered imperiled. Now nearly 40% of all freshwater fish species in North America are "in jeopardy" -- 700 species that are either vulnerable, threatened or endangered. And that doesn't even consider the 61 fishes that have already gone extinct. The report resulted from a collaboration among scientists in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. It includes assessments of both freshwater fish -- those that live in lakes, streams and rivers -- and diadromous fishes that migrate from the ocean to spawn in estuaries and freshwater rivers. The declines aren't restricted to fish (crayfishes, snails and mussels are showing similar signs of stress), and the list of threats is familiar: "Freshwater fish have continued to decline since the late 1970s, with the primary causes being habitat loss, dwindling range and introduction of non-native species," said Mark Myers, director of the USGS. "In addition, climate change may further affect these fish." Read More How do you count the people in Congressional districts?A savvy registered voter in New York brought a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the congressional districts in this state. His argument is that while the constitution requires that each congressional district have the same number of people, the districts are illegal because they do not have have the same number of people eligible to vote.The case is Kalson v. Paterson, decided on September 9. As the Court of Appeals notes, "congressional districts within a state must have the same population." That way, the congressman in Manhattan wields the same power as the congresswoman in Buffalo (at least in theory, anyway). But, Judge Calabresi points out, "The Supreme Court . . . has never precisely defined what is the relevant “population” for the purposes of apportioning congressional representation. And, behind this case there lies a theoretically difficult question, whether congressional districts must be of the same total population — the number of residents within each district — or some different population that represents the number of votes cast in each district. Put differently, this is a choice between two conceptions of democratic equality, "electoral equality” and “equal representation.”Read More Palin Aides Defend Billing State for Time at HomeBy MICHAEL LUO and LESLIE WAYNEResponding to criticism from Democrats, campaign aides to Gov. Sarah Palin on Tuesday defended her practice of billing Alaska taxpayers for more than 300 nights she spent at home in her first year-and-a-half in office. Ms. Palin received a “per diem” expense allowance for 312 nights she spent at her home in Wasilla, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday. The $60-a-day allowance is available for state employees when traveling on official state business to cover meals and other sundry expenses. Ms. Palin’s per diems, which included some charges for partial days, totaled $17,059, from Dec. 4, 2006, when she took office, through June 30, 2008, the most recent data available, according to Sharon Leighow, a spokeswoman for the governor’s office. Ms. Palin’s salary is $125,000 a year. Read More What's the difference between Palin and Muslim fundamentalists? LipstickA theocrat is a theocrat, whether Muslim or Christian.By Juan Cole Sep. 09, 2008 | John McCain announced that he was running for president to confront the "transcendent challenge" of the 21st century, "radical Islamic extremism," contrasting it with "stability, tolerance and democracy." But the values of his handpicked running mate, Sarah Palin, more resemble those of Muslim fundamentalists than they do those of the Founding Fathers. On censorship, the teaching of creationism in schools, reproductive rights, attributing government policy to God's will and climate change, Palin agrees with Hamas and Saudi Arabia rather than supporting tolerance and democratic precepts. What is the difference between Palin and a Muslim fundamentalist? Lipstick. McCain pledged to work for peace based on "the transformative ideals on which we were founded." Tolerance and democracy require freedom of speech and the press, but while mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, Palin inquired of the local librarian how to go about banning books that some of her constituents thought contained inappropriate language. She tried to fire the librarian for defying her. Book banning is common to fundamentalisms around the world, and the mind-set Palin displayed did not differ from that of the Hamas minister of education in the Palestinian government who banned a book of Palestinian folk tales for its sexually explicit language. In contrast, Thomas Jefferson wrote, "Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press, nor that be limited without danger of losing it." Read More New report tracks increase in government secrecyThe federal government held steady on the path toward greater secrecy in 2007, according to a report released today by the non-profit group OpenTheGovernment.org.The annual Secrecy Report Card examines progress in more than a dozen areas of government, from the processing of Freedom of Information Act requests to orders to keep patent information under wraps. For its review, the group compiled information from multiple agency reports and other non-profit studies, and did its own research. Among the key findings: Fewer documents were considered for declassification in 2007 than in the year before -- a decline of about 13 percent. But 62 of those documents ultimately were declassified, a small increase over the year before. Most notably, the National Security Council declassified about 595,000 pages in 2007, up an amazing 1,044 percent from 2006. The National Archives and Records Administration declassified 967,758 pages, up 350 percent from the year before. Read More |
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Wednesday, September 10, 2008
News That Matters - September 10, 2008
